The Final Mission
by BeautifulWolfGirl
Summary: This is the third book in my Scorpia Hunting series. Yassen's past has come back to haunt him, in more ways than one. A mysterious boy shows up on his doorstep, while a man from his childhood comes back to kill him. No slash. Alex and John are in a father/son relationship (duh) and Alex and Yassen are also in a father/son relationship.
1. Danger in the Air

**All right, this is the third book in my Scorpia Hunting Series. I'm really excited about it! I hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much to all my fans that are supporting me!**

**P.S. All these chapters are still in Yassen's perspective.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yassen, Alex, or John. I do, however, own Jeremy Hosea Winters and Nikolei Markov.**

Chapter 1- Danger in the Air

We walk out of the movie theater, smiling happily at each other. We just finished watching World War Z.

"So what did you think? Were you scared?" I ask Alex, glancing at him, my eyes sparkling.

"Are you kidding? That was awesome!" he exclaims; he looks like the happiest kid on earth. And why wouldn't he be? His father is alive, he gets to spend time with me, and MI6 is leaving us alone for the rest of our lives, who could be happier?

"So, what now?" he asks happily.

"I think we go home. Maybe we can grab some lunch with John. Maybe then we can practice karate," I reply. John didn't come with us to the movie theater because he'd already seen the movie twice before. Alex keeps teasing him that he's just scared of all the zombies, but I know John just wants us to spend time together without him. He's been around a lot lately, and I think he knows I've wanted to spend time with Alex separately. I know it sounds selfish, but John understands.

We head home, and John is already there. I gave him a key to my place so he wouldn't have to keep breaking in.

"How was the movie?" he asks as we walk in. He's sitting at the dinner table, eating some chips and guacamole.

"It was good. Alex enjoyed it a lot," I reply.

"Not going to have any nightmares, are you?" he teases me. I shake my head, smiling.

"No, if I do, I'll be sure to let you know," I say. The doorbell rings, and we all stop talking. We look at each other nervously.

"Expecting someone, Yassen?" John asks, lowering his voice. I shake my head and pull one of my many guns out of the drawer. John pulls his gun out, and Alex pulls his knife out. We look at each other. It could be an innocent person, selling something no one wants, or it could be someone hunting one of us. Who should answer the door?

"I got it," Alex says, turning to head into the hallway.

"No, Alex!" I hiss, but it's too late. He leaves the room. I follow at a distance with John right behind me. I stand in the hallway where I can hear whoever it is, but they can't see me because of the wall.

"What are you doing here?" Alex says, sounding angry.

"I've come to speak with Yassen," a familiar female voice says. I thought they were going to leave us alone! I walk out and come up behind Alex. Mrs. Jones is standing in the doorway, looking at Alex.

"Ah, Yassen. This has nothing to do with another mission. It has to do with him," Mrs. Jones moves aside to reveal a boy about Alex's age. I'm shocked by what I see. The boy looks exactly like I do. He has red hair; he's about as tall as Alex. He's thin but not gangly. The only difference between us is that he has emerald green eyes; mine are ice blue.

"This is Jeremy," she says. She pulls a sheet of paper from her suit jacket and hands it over Alex's head to me. I open it; it's a birth certificate. It has my name under the father, and a girl's name under the mother; Zoe Collins. Then, it has the boy's name. Jeremy Hosea Collins.

"I don't understand…who is the boy Yassen?" Alex asks, looking at me in confusion.

"He's my son, Alex." I reply, trying not to let my voice crack.

"I thought you told me you were never in love!" Alex exclaims, sounding hurt.

"I wasn't in love. It was more of a…one night stand sorta situation." I explain, a little embarrassed. "Zoe died in a car accident, and I thought he was dead." I continue, clearing my throat.

"He was in a foster home; he's been adopted before but his parents died before he was three years old. His last name was changed to Winters, while he was with that family. He's been living in foster care ever since, but he found the birth certificate. He was the one who was looking for you, Yassen," Mrs. Jones tells us.

"He's been living in a foster home all this time?" I ask, shocked.

"Yes, he has," Mrs. Jones says.

I glance at Jeremy; poor kid. "You want me to take him, don't you?" I ask.

"Well, if you want to," Mrs. Jones says.

"Of course I do! He's my son," I exclaim.

"What about Alex?" she asks.

"What about him?" this confuses me.

"Well…won't two boys be a bit much for you?" she asks.

"John and I have been taking care of him together, I think we can handle it," I reply. I open the door and Alex steps back, allowing room for Jeremy to come inside. He hesitates, and Mrs. Jones gives him a gentle push.

"Go on, it's all right," she says softly. She turns to leave, and he moves forward into the house. Alex gives him a smile.

"Thank you, Mrs. Jones," I say, closing the door behind Jeremy. John steps forward, smiling.

"So, he's alive," he says, looking at Jeremy. "I have to say, you two look exactly alike except the eyes. Are they from Zoe?" he asks. He knows all about Zoe and my affair with her.

"Yes, they are," I reply. I feel slightly guilty that I didn't tell Alex about Jeremy or Zoe, but I didn't really think it was important earlier. Plus, it's the one thing about my past that causes me pain whenever I think about it. Now that Jeremy's alive though…it's different.

"Well…what now?" Alex asks. I glance at Jeremy. He shrugs.

"What were you doing before I came?" he asks.

"We were about to eat lunch. Are you hungry?" I ask.

"Yeah, I guess," he seems very quiet and shy. I wonder if that's just because he just met me, or if that's his personality.

"Well, then, let's eat," John says, clapping his hands together. We sit down at the dinner table and eat some sandwiches. As we eat, we ask Jeremy various questions.

"So, you lived in a foster home for a good chunk of your life. What was it like?" Alex asks.

"It was all right. There were a lot of other kids there, mostly younger, but there were a few who were about my age. I was the oldest one their though; I'd also been there the longest," he explains.

I glance at Alex; I still feel guilty from hiding this from him. He finally notices me looking at him.

"What?" he asks.

"Nothing. I'm just wondering how you're taking this," I tell him.

"What? You not telling me about him? It's fine; I understand. I don't like telling people certain things either; I never told Jack that Ash killed my parents…er…my mom at least," Alex says, glancing at John as he says it.

Jeremy looks back and forth between Alex and I; he's trying to figure out what's going on between us, I think.

"Should we tell him?" I ask, glancing at Jeremy. "He's gonna find out sooner or later,"

"I suppose," Alex says. He knows I'm talking about the whole spy and assassin thing.

"Tell me what?" Jeremy asks, now even more confused.

"Jeremy…the people who brought you here, who did they say they were?" I ask.

"They said they were MI6. Why? Can you tell me why MI6 was involved in this? And how did you know that woman?" a flood of questions come out; I suppose he was too shy to ask all of them earlier.

"Well, Mrs. Jones is the director of MI6. Alex…" I trail off, not sure how to word this.

"I'll tell him my part. I use to work for them. So did John, but…well, he was supposedly killed right before I was born. He's been in hiding though, apparently. Anyway, I was adopted by my uncle Ian, who, not surprisingly, also worked as a spy for MI6. Yassen killed him while he was on a mission. That's how Yassen and I met," Alex says.

"I hate to tell you this, kid, but you're father was a freelance assassin," John says.

"Way to break it to him, John," I mutter.

"Um…you killed people for money?" he says, looking confused. I wonder if this rush of information is too much for him.

"Well, yeah, that's what freelance assassin means, kid," John explains.

"Yeah, whenever I asked Yassen why did something, he always responded with, 'because I'm paid'. Lousy response, in my opinion," Alex says. I give him a glance that says, "Shut up" and roll my eyes.

"So…now you do…what exactly?" he asks cautiously. He looks a bit scared of me.

"Don't worry, I only killed people they told me to. I don't think you'll be on the list for a while. But as to what I do now—" Alex, of course, feels the need to take over again.

"We sit on our big fat butts and live off the money MI6 gives us," he says, grinning.

"You make it sound like we do nothing," I mutter.

"But…that's exactly what we've been doing for the past few weeks. Hey, you're not the type of guy I can see getting a real job, okay?" he says.

John laughs. "He's right, Yassen, you're not the type of guy to go out and get a regular job like the rest of us." he says.

"Wow, you guys sure are great at boosting a person's ego, aren't ya?" I say sarcastically. Alex and John both smile at me like they've just been praised by the Queen of England herself.

"Yeah, that's what we're here for, isn't it?" Alex exclaims, looking even happier.

"Give me a break," I mutter.

"So," Alex says, turning back to Jeremy. He's about to continue, when the phone rings. I excuse myself and answer it.

"Hello?" I ask. It's probably just some annoying telemarketer.

"Is this Yassen Gregorovich?" a voice asks.

"Who's asking?" now I'm getting suspicious.

"Nikolei Markov," the voice replies.

"How did you get this number?" I ask.

He ignores my question, instead saying, "I know where you are Yassen; you better be ready, cuz I'm coming for you," there's a click at the other end and the line goes dead. I realize that this is a serious problem. Everyone I love is in danger, all because of me.

"Who was that?" John asks, coming in.

"I'll give you three guesses," I say, holding up three fingers.

"Oh, great. It's Nikolei, isn't it?" John says, sounding tired. I nod. We both know what he's searching for; I killed his father Ivan and now he's looking for revenge. "This isn't good. If he comes after you, then all of us are in trouble," he says after a moment.

"I know, I know. What do we do?" I ask.

"Well, you could start by telling us what's going on," Alex says, coming into the room.

"Alex…were you eavesdropping again?" I ask.

"Blame MI6 and Scorpia. Might as well blame yourself, while you're at it. You guys are the ones who trained me to do that," Alex says innocently.

"Fair enough," I sigh. I sit down in the middle of the sofa and pat the seat next to me. Alex comes and joins me on my left, and Jeremy comes over and sits on my right. John sits next to Alex on the left side. "All right, so Ivan was a Russian warlord; he blew up oil rigs, nuclear power plants, that kind of stuff. Scorpia assigned me to kill him; the mission was, of course, successful. But now his son wants revenge for his father's death, so he's coming after me," I explain.

"Well, we should call the police," Jeremy exclaims, shocked.

"See, I doubt the police will be able to do anything about it. They don't handle that kind of thing. Plus, if I know him, he would have the police in his pocket; no, that's not an option. The only other option would be—"

"No. We're not going to them for help. We promised each other that after we found John, that chapter of our lives was over," Alex says forcefully. He knows I'm about to suggest we go to MI6.

"Well, I'm with you there, but I don't think it's an option now. Nikolei's hunting me; the only way we solve that is to get MI6 to help, or let him kill me. Which option would you prefer?" I glance at him. "I'm angry too. Nikolei has been coming after me ever since I killed his father; he's tried to kill me before," I explain.

"Well, then, give him his own medicine; shoot him," Alex says.

"Since when did you become so trigger-happy?" I ask. Alex usually goes for anything that doesn't involve killing people.

"And since when did you two switch brains?" John asks, glancing back and forth between us.

"Well, it's either that or get him locked up. Which one's easier for you?" Alex asks, ignoring his dad.

"See, the problem with shooting him is I have a home now; I have you, John, and Jeremy to worry about. I'm sure he still has friends in high places; friends that will come after me and everyone I love if I kill him," I explain.

"So why didn't you do it earlier?" Alex asks, sounding exasperated.

"I usually don't kill people just because; usually I get paid to kill people. Or I did, at least," I explain.

"Well I thought you shot anyone who remotely bothered you," Alex says.

"Where would you come up with that idea?" I ask.

"The guard you shot…while you were unloading the vials during the Stormbreaker thing," Alex answers.

"You were busy weren't you? He almost jeopardized the mission; he could also have cost us a lot of money. If even one of those vials had broken, he would also have cost us our lives. Shooting him was the only option," I reply, except now I'm not entirely sure I believe that.

"Well, I would think that someone hunting you down and trying to kill you would bother you," Alex replies.

"I didn't feel it was necessary at the time. He never came that close to killing me. Now, though…I have people I care for that I want to protect. It seems that MI6 is the only option we have here," I tell him.

"Well…I'm coming with you," Alex says after a moment.

"No, you're not, kid. You're staying right here, with me and Jeremy," John says, wrapping his arm around Alex and ruffling his hair.

"What? Why?" Alex exclaims, looking angry.

"Because it's dangerous for you to be around me," I say. I see something flicker across his face briefly; it's only there for a second, but I know what it is: fear. He's afraid, for me.

"Hey, it'll be fine, trust me. I know what I'm doing," I say, patting him on the back gently.

"All right, I suppose if you say so…" he says, looking at me worriedly.

"I do. I'm just trying to protect you three; the only three people I actually love," I say. I hope he realizes how important it is that he stays out of this.

"All right, I'll stay here," Alex says, though he sounds reluctant to do so. I glance at John and point to Alex, mouthing the words, "watch him". John smiles and gives me a wink, while Alex scowls at me. I walk toward the door, grabbing my keys on the way out. "Be good!" I call as I head out the door.

When I reach MI6 headquarters, the secretary behind the desk tells me to go right up. When I enter Mrs. Jones' office, it looks the same as usual. She's sitting behind her desk, sucking on a peppermint.

"Hello, Yassen. What can I do for you? I thought you and Alex didn't want to be a part of this anymore?" she says, giving me a quizzical glance.

"We don't, but this seemed to be the only option. There's a man here; he wants me dead. His name is Nikolei Markov. I need help in stopping him or somehow convincing him I'm not worth it and I just want a regular life," I explain.

"Ah, yes, I believe I have a file on him. Interesting man. He went into the army when he was 18, stayed there until his father died, and then he went into espionage, he's ex-KGB. He also worked for the Russian Mafia," she says.

"I know. I killed his father; he was on a mission for the army and couldn't attend the funeral. That's what got him into intelligence; he was searching for me so he could get his revenge. He was also training so he could kill me when he found me. He's tried to kill me before, but he's never gotten this close. He called me, on my phone. He knows where I live. I just want a normal life with Alex, John, and Jeremy," I tell her.

"The old you would have been able to solve this quite easily with a bullet to his head," she replies, as if I didn't know that before.

"Well, I've changed a lot over the past few years, haven't I? I have people I care about and I don't want to get hurt. They care about me, too. Before I didn't have that; now…I have a family who needs me. Alex would have a mental breakdown if something happened to me. I can't just shoot him, or other people might be after me. That's probably the last thing I'll do, if I'm really desperate."

"I understand. I'm sure we can figure something out. If we can't catch him tough…there might be no other option for you…you might have to…" she doesn't say it, but I know what she's thinking by the look in her eyes.

"What? Run? That means I'd be running for the rest of my life, or at least until he dies. No, I can't run. I can't put Alex, John, and Jeremy through that. I won't," I exclaim forcefully. There's no way I'm running away from him. I would almost rather shoot him than have to do that.

"Well, I'm sure we'll figure something out. For now, you can go home and rest," she says. "I'll call you when we have something we might be able to use against him,"

"Thank you," I reply. I hope she gets it done quickly because I don't want to have to solve this myself.

I walk out onto Liverpool Street. I pause; something seems…off somehow. I'm not sure what, but some old instinct tells me to be wary. I proceed toward my car cautiously. I've almost reached it, when I hear someone yell my name. A moment later, I'm tackled from behind. My attacker throws his whole body against me, shoving me to the ground. I hear an unmistakable sound at the same time; the sound of a gun being fired. I glance back to see Alex lying on the ground, panting. We landed right behind my car, which is now shielding us from whoever is shooting.

"Alex! What in God's name are you doing here?" I exclaim, angry.

"Saving your life, apparently," he says sarcastically. I realize he's right; whoever was shooting was aiming at me. And I know who was shooting: Nikolei. I'm sure of it.

"Get in the car," I command. I crawl in, and he climbs in after me. I'm about to start the engine, when my cell phone rings.

"I might have missed this time, but next time, I won't. I promise," Nikolei says, and then hangs up.

I give a growl of anger. Then I compose myself and turn to Alex.

"How did you get here?" I ask, still slightly annoyed.

"I stole John's car," he says, not sounding guilty at all. "I saw the sniper perched on a roof and I saw you. I realized what he was doing, so I knocked you over," he continues. I feel the anger disappear instantly.

"You saved my life. Thank you," I say, feeling the weight of what just happened for the first time.

"You would have done the same," he says.

"Well, it happened before," I say, remembering how I saved his life in the garage when Scorpia was after him. That was how I became a father to him and that was when he realized he could trust me. We drive the rest of the way home in silence. When we get there, John is standing by the door; he looks angry.

"Alex! I'm very disappointed in you. What were you thinking?" he asks when we come in.

"It's all right, John." I say, raising a hand as if to ward off his anger. "He save my life," I quickly explain what happened at Liverpool Street.

"Well, good job Alex. That still doesn't excuse you from stealing my car though," he says, though he actually looks quite proud.

"Someone really tried to kill you?" Jeremy seems shocked.

"It's happened before. I've gotten used to people wanting me dead. It comes with the business we're in," I say.

"It happens to all of us," Alex says, supporting me.

"Well, what do we do now?" Jeremy asks. He seems quite shaken; I realize what he must be going through right now. He barely knows me and already he almost lost me.

"I think the best option is to lay low and let MI6 handle this," John says. I agree, but there's a problem.

"We need somewhere else to stay. Nikolei knows where I live; it can't be long before he comes knocking." I say. Alex and I glance at each other. The last time we went into hiding, we had to live in a storage facility.

"I have a place. It's decent. It can support all four of us easily. No one knows about it but me. Yassen, why don't you and I go pick up my car, and then we can head over there?" John suggests.

"Sure, sounds good. Alex, Jeremy, behave," I say, giving Alex a meaningful glare. He raises his hands in surrender.

"I saved your life!" he exclaims. I snort; he's right, of course, but he risked his own life by doing so. Still; I'm very grateful he showed up when he did. If he hadn't I'd be dead right now.

John and I go pick up his car without incident, and one hour later we're on the road in his gray Ferrari, heading to his safe house. Hopefully it will be better than the storage facility Alex and I lived in when Scorpia was after us. And hopefully, Nikolei won't find us and MI6 will be able to deal with him quickly. I realize we'll need a lot of luck for any of this to happen perfectly. I'm afraid that our luck might be running thin, and that's a very scary though.


	2. Friend or Foe?

**Second chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any Alex Rider characters, blah, blah, blah.**

Chapter 2- Friend or Foe?

John's safe house is a lot better than mine; it's actually a house. The outside is a dark grey color; it has two stories and it's in a residential area. When we walk inside, I'm a little surprised it looks so…normal.

We're in the middle of breakfast the next morning when the doorbell rings. I go for my gun, but John places a hand on my arm to stop me.

"Yassen, calm down. It's probably just someone trying to sell us something," he says. I get up and go answer the door; I still place my hand on my gun, just in case.

When I open the door, a man with curly black hair is standing there. He has shades on, but I recognize him instantly. I shut the door until it's only a crack while at the same time pulling out my gun. He takes off his shades and smiles.

"You got me," he says. His hazel eyes sparkle mysteriously. His Russian accent is thick; though I'm sure he hasn't been there in a long time. He's wearing a white polo shirt and blue jeans.

"Have you come to shoot me? How did you find me?" I ask.

"Tracking device on your car. And no, I'm not here to kill you. I come in peace. I just want to talk. Maybe I can take you out to lunch or something?" he asks. For a second, I don't see him as someone who's trying to kill me. I see a glimmer of someone else I knew. Someone from my past, before my parents were killed.

Nikolei and I grew up together. We were best friends and neighbors since I was a little kid. When my parents got killed and I ran away, I dropped off the grid and didn't hear from him. Then I killed his father, and everything changed. He found out I was the killer; he felt like I'd personally betrayed him. In a way, I had. From that moment on, he's been hunting me down, trying to avenge his father's death.

"You're not going to kill me?" I ask.

"I still want to kill you, but I want to ask you some questions first. Maybe you can change my mind," he says, though I can tell I'm going to have to try very hard to do that.

"Fine. Somewhere public though, with lots of witnesses in case you decide to try something," I say.

"Of course," he hands me an address. "Be here by noon. If you're even a minute late, I'll leave. Things will go back to me trying to kill you. No second chances. Come alone, or I leave. Unarmed or I—" I cut him off.

"Leave, yeah I got it. All right, I'll be there," I say. I close the door. I watch through the window as he climbs into a silver Rolls Royce and drives off.

"Yassen? Are you all right?" John says from behind me. I turn around.

"Yeah, I'm fine. He found us. He wants a meeting. He just wants to talk," I tell him. Alex comes into the room as I say this, Jeremy is right behind him.

"You're not going to meet him, are you?" Alex says with a mixture of incredulousness and fear.

"Yeah," I sigh. I guess it's time to tell them the whole truth. "We use to be neighbors; best friends actually. That was before my parents died. After…I ran away and he didn't hear from me in a couple years. After I killed his father, he found me again. He vowed he would kill me. I still remember how he called me when he found out I was the one who killed his father. He said, 'I thought we were friends, but I was wrong. You killed my father; we're not friends anymore Yassen, we're enemies until the day I kill you.' So now he's been hunting me since then," I explain. John is watching me with concern on his face.

"So you've known this guy for a really long time. That's good though, right? Cuz that way you also know how he thinks, right?" Alex says hopefully.

"Alex, he's changed a lot since we were kids. I barely know him anymore," I tell him.

"So you're going to go meet him this afternoon…why?" Alex says, looking at the slip of paper Nikolei handed me.

"He said he just wants to talk Alex. I don't trust him anymore than you do, but I have to do this. Maybe I can get him to stop coming after me," I say. Alex huffs and gives me a look that says, "Yeah, right."

"Look, maybe we could compromise or something," I say.

"Oh yeah. Compromise. Like he only _partly _kills you and then everything between you is OK," Alex says sarcastically. Jeremy gives him a light punch on the arm and mutters, "Not helpful."

"Can I come?" John says, looking at me.

"No. He said no weapons, no friends, no being late or he leaves," I say. John nods; he understands.

"Well, then. I guess you're going out in the cold." John says.

"I guess so," I sigh. "There's not really any choice though. This is the best chance we have at stopping him,"

"Can't you take a knife or something?" Alex asks.

"No, Alex. He specifically said no weapons," I reply.

"You could bring a pen or something and use that as a weapon." Alex points out.

"I'm sure if I need to I'll improvise something," I reassure him.

"I don't like this but I can tell you're going to do it anyway. There's no point arguing with you I don't think," Alex says.

"I'll make sure Jeremy and Alex stay here," John says, giving Alex a meaningful glance.

"How many times do I have to remind you I saved your life?" Alex exclaims, sounding exasperated.

"I know Alex. It was a good thing you were there, but you took a big risk, doing that," I say, patting him on the back. I expect him to look pleased with himself, but instead he looks at me and I see worry in his eyes.

"I'll be fine, Alex." I say. I hope I'm right.

At around noon, I leave the house in John's car and head to the address Nikolei gave me. The restaurant is a small place; it's more of a bar than a restaurant, but there are lots of people there and that's all that matters. I go inside and I glance around, looking for Nikolei. I see him waving at me from across the bar and I head over. I sit down across from him.

"I ordered for you, I hope that's all right. I got you fish sticks and ranch," he says, not bothering to greet me.

"That's fine," I reply, although I'm not so sure. I don't like eating food if I don't know what's on it. I suppose I have to trust him.

He apparently sees my hesitation because he rolls his eyes. "Oh for God's sake, I'm not gonna try and kill you here. Not when you might give me answers to my questions," he says.

"What are your questions?" I ask.

"I have a few. First, why did you kill my father, exactly?" he says, leaning forward slightly.

I'm about to say my usual response, "I was paid," but then I realize he might not take that so well. What else can I say, though?

"I…well; Scorpia paid me to do it. He was a warlord; do you even know what kind of stuff he was doing? He was killing people…innocent people. He was blowing up oil rigs and nuclear power plants. He was a bad person," I realize this probably isn't the best thing to say either.

It appears I'm right when he says, "He was my _father_! It doesn't matter what he did or how many people he killed! He was my dad and I loved him! You of all people should understand that, what with you losing your parents when you did!" he exclaims.

"But you see I don't. I wasn't very close to either of my parents. Of course it was hard, but I survived," I say. I realize this conversation isn't going as well as I'd hoped.

"Well, you should know how close my father and I were! You were my best friend," he exclaims.

"I'm sorry I killed you're father. If I could go back in time, knowing that this would happen, I wouldn't do it. That hardly changes anything though. Scorpia would have killed me and then sent someone else to kill him. He would have been dead anyway, and so would I," I explain.

He thinks about this for a few minutes. I wait patiently. Our food came, but I haven't touched my fish sticks. Finally, he speaks again.

"If we could go back in time, and you not doing your job would mean you getting killed…I don't know what I would want. They would kill you for turning down a job?" he says, looking at me questioningly.

"Well, maybe. Depending on how I turned it down. If I said flat out no, then of course they'd kill me. They would think I was going soft. If I recommended someone else doing it though…they probably wouldn't," I reply.

"So you're saying no matter what, my father would die, even if you had turned down the job," he says. It's not a question, but I nod anyway.

"Did you know he was my father?" he asks.

"Yes,"

"Then why did you kill him?" he seems angry at this.

"I…when I got the job, it didn't register until I'd already accepted," I reply. I realize that no matter what, this part of our conversation is not going to go very well.

"And you still did it. You could have given someone else the job, or not done it. You could have faked it even!" he exclaims, even more agitated.

"How do you think I would be able to do that? He would have to live in hiding for the rest of his life. How do you think he would have liked that? He wouldn't have been able to continue with his work,"

"That was you're goal, wasn't it? Getting rid of him so he wouldn't continue with his work?" Nikolei seems confused by this.

"Well…it wasn't just that he was a warlord. He had found out about our operation and was threatening to tell the intelligence agencies about us. We didn't want that happening. That was another reason he had to go,"

"You could have paid him to keep his mouth shut," Nikolei points out.

"It wasn't that easy. He was already making money with his work. He wouldn't take a bribe. We tried that, but he wouldn't accept it,"

"So you killed him," his eyes darken with fury and I know he's not going to listen to anything else I say. "I'm not going to argue with you anymore on this. You made your choice, and you're going to suffer. I have another question though," his eyes loose the fury that entered them a moment ago. "After your parents died…you left. Why?"

"It was that or go off and live in an orphanage for God knows how long. Which one would you have chosen?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.

"Fair enough," he says, smiling slightly. Again, I see a flicker of his old self. It disappears quickly, though, as he becomes serious agian. "What did you do, after that though? I didn't hear from you for months. Years, in fact," he seems slightly sad because of this.

"I went to Moscow. I worked with the mafia for a while, and then I found my way to Scorpia," I reply.

"The mafia?! Yassen…" he seems shocked.

"How else was I supposed to support myself? I didn't have any other choice. They kept me out of police computers; they gave me a place to stay, food, shelter…they promised not to send me to an orphanage as long as I did what I was told. I ran errands for them…it wasn't like I was one of their top guys or anything. They taught me how to take care of myself. Then one I heard about a company called Scorpia. A guy I knew said he'd worked with them before. He said if I wanted a place I could really call home, I should go there. I wasn't so sure I should, but eventually I changed my mind and I ran off," I tell him.

"What made you change your mind?" he seems genuinely curious. He's known me for a long time; he knows how stubborn I am. It takes a lot to change my mind.

"I…I was on a mission for them. I was with a group of their people; they were raiding a village. They were killing everyone there. Women, men, children, everyone. There was a 17 year old boy; he was only a year older than I was at the time. They…they tortured him to death right in front of me. It was sickening. It was the most horrible thing I'd ever seen in my whole life; I still remember it. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget. That was the reason I left. I didn't want to be with them anymore; I didn't want to turn into the kind of person who would do that," I explain. I remember telling Alex the same story.

"You kill people for a living. What's the difference?" he says flatly.

"I _killed _for a living. I don't work with Scorpia anymore. I'm not a killer anymore. I'm a father. I have a family…people I care about and people who care about me. I didn't torture people like they did,"

"Fine, fair enough." he thinks for a moment. "You have a son?" he says. I realize that this is my chance; this is where I could be able to change his mind.

"Yes. I just recently found out I did. I thought he was dead but apparently…he survived. And then there's my old mentor's son. I've been taking care of him for about two years now. My mentor, who I thought was dead until several months ago, is back as well. While I was at Scorpia, he and I grew very close. He's like a father to me," I say.

"That's all great, but that doesn't change the fact that you killed my father and I'm going to kill you to avenge his death," Nikolei says, not showing any emotion whatsoever.

"Nikolei…I have a family. People who would be lost if something happened to me. Surely you understand that," I say.

"_I _was lost after my father died! I didn't know what to do! I was alone! I didn't have anywhere to go! That's part of the reason I joined the military, so I could feel like I was part of a group. You took my family away from me," he's almost yelling now.

I have no idea how to respond to him. There doesn't seem to be a proper response.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say. We've both lost someone important to us. I can tell that I'm not going to stop you from trying to kill me. I'm also not just going to sit here and wait for you to do so. Alex wanted me to kill you in the first place. If it comes to that, I'm afraid I'll have no choice. That's a last resort, though. I don't want to kill you, Nikolei, but if you keep hunting me…I'm afraid I'll have to. I have to admit, if I were in your situation, I would do the same thing you're doing. I wouldn't even hesitate about doing it either. I understand why you're doing this. But I have friends who can and will go to great lengths to protect me," this is the last thing I can think of to try and make him see reason. It's my last chance at stopping him right now.

"Thanks for warning me, but frankly, I don't care right now," he says.

I sigh and nod, I'm not really all that surprised about his decision.

"There's nothing I can do to stop you, is there," I say. He shakes his head no.

"We're done here. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but there's nothing you can do now. I'm going to kill you, or die trying," he gets up and leaves. I sit there, wishing things were different. Finally, I get up and leave as well. When I get home, John, Alex, and Jeremy are waiting for me on the couch.

"Well, you survived," John says. I sit down in between Alex and Jeremy.

"Yeah, but it didn't go as well as I hoped it would. He's still convinced he has to kill me," I reply.

"Well, that's not good. You all right?" John asks.

"Yeah, it's just that he's made it apparent nothing will stop him. I think killing him is the only option now," I say.

"So, are you gonna do it?" Alex says. Jeremy elbows him in the stomach. "What?!" Alex seems confused, but Jeremy just glares at him and he falls silent.

"Alex, I don't want to do this. I've known Nikolei since we were kids; he was my best friend. He was always there for me, even when everyone else wasn't. I don't want to be the one to kill him. I don't want him to die, either," I say.

"Couldn't you blackmail him or something?" Alex says which results in Jeremy elbowing him even harder. "Ow! Hey, dude, watch it! I'm gonna get a bruise if you do that anymore,"

"Not cool, man," Jeremy mutters to Alex, ignoring his comment.

"I could blackmail him, but with what, exactly? There's nothing left. He's out in the cold. There's nothing we have to use against him," I tell him.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Alex exclaims.

"MI6 has already agreed to help. Hopefully they'll be able to fix this before Nikolei does anything else," I say.

"He knows where we are now. Do you think he'll try and come here to kill you?" Jeremy asks, sounding worried.

"I don't really think so. He knows we're well protected here. No, he'll want to attack somewhere else," I reply.

"So that means you can't leave the house until MI6 takes care of him," Alex says. "Which will take…how long exactly?"

"Who knows? With MI6 it could take anywhere between a week and a month. You of all people should know that," I reply.

"Yeah, unfortunalty, I do," he huffs.

I hope they do something about Nikolei soon, though, because I don't want to have to kill him in order to make him stop hunting me. He was my best friend since my childhood, and I honestly can't help but still think of him as being my best friend.

John takes Alex and Jeremy out for a while the day after I meet with Nikolei. When they return, Alex comes in acting very…happy.

"Hey, ginger, what's up?!" he says when he come in and sees me moping on the couch. I don't like being stuck here at home.

"Ginger? Really Alex?" I say, raising my eyebrows in disbelief. He did not just call me a ginger, did he?

"Yeah, cuz you are one," Alex says, smiling.

"John, has he been on crack or something?" I ask, looking at John seriously. Alex and Jeremy both burst into laughter. I then see Jeremy pass Alex $20.

"Wait, you bet him to do that?" I say, feeling like a moron. Jeremy nods, and now even John can't keep the grin off his face.

"How old are we again?" I ask.

"Five. And I'm twenty dollars richer," Alex snickers, waving the twenty dollar bill in the air. Jeremy and he start laughing all over again.

"John, did you put them up to this?" I ask.

"What? Me? Why would I do that?" he says innocently, but I can tell he's trying not to smile.

"John," I start, but he interrupts.

"We thought it would cheer you up," he says.

"Cheer me up. Right. Sure you did," I say sarcastically.

"Well, you've been sulking around the house all day. It was the least we could do," Jeremy says.

"The _least _you could do?" I ask. If that's the least they can do, I'm doomed.

"Sure, why not?" Alex exclaims. I'm about to make a smart retort, but just ten the doorbell rings. We all look at each other, frozen. What now? Was I wrong about Nikolei? Is he going to come try and kill me right now? I start to stand to go answer, but Alex leaps forward and grabs my arm.

"No," he says. I pull away quickly.

"It's all right, Alex." I reassure him, although even I'm not sure if it is.

I get up and go to the door. I open it a crack, half-expecting to see Nikolei standing there with a gun. It's not him, though. It looks like a younger version of him; a young man with curly dark brown hair and green eyes. He has a smooth face, with sparkling, intelligent eyes.

"Are you Yassen?" he asks.

"Has Nikolei sent his son to kill me?" I ask, assuming this man is in fact Nikolei's son.

"Um, no. I…I want to help you," he says hesitantly.

"What do you mean?" I ask, confused.

"My grandfather, I mean, the man you shot, he was a very powerful man, but I also understand why you killed him. The things he was doing, some of it wasn't good. My father doesn't forgive and forget very easily, and neither do I. But I also understand you. you have people you care about that need you; that is why I am willing to help you. My father is not afraid to die, but I do not think he realizes that could happen," he explains.

I think, examining him. This could be an attempt to help us, or it could be Nikolei trying to get close to us so he can kill me. I sense Alex appear next to me, and I glance over to see John and Jeremy standing there. I look at John, wondering what to do. he comes to stand next to me, looking at the young man.

"What's your name, kid?" he asks.

"Anton," he replies.

"Well, I think we should trust him, Yassen. If you double-cross us, though…" John lets the sentence hang.

"Understood." Anton replies, nodding.

"I'll try and help you as much as possible. You have my word," he says solemnly.

"Do we? Really?" Alex challenges.

"If you don't believe me, you can shoot me," he replies.

Alex is glaring at him; I tap him on the shoulder lightly.

"Alex, it's all right," I tell him.

"If you think I'm going to double-cross you—" he starts, but I cut him off.

"No, I trust you. I don't want to shoot you, but if you do double-cross us, I won't hesitate," I say.

"I won't," he says. He sounds sincere, but I can't help but wonder if he's just like his father; not afraid to die. I realize that him showing up here shows that he isn't; I could have shot him without asking any questions, but he risked it anyway. Still, I wonder if he's lying to us. I push the thought away for now; I don't want to think of what that might mean. I'll just have to watch him carefully, until I know for sure that we can trust him.

**That's the end of chapter 2! I'm sorry it's taken so long to post this, I've been busy and school just started for me, so I might not be able to post these very often.**


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